Sugoi! Mubi desu!

As well as writing about my two years living abroad, my day-to-day life since being back, my work and anything else that pops into my mind, I’ve decided to throw one more topic in to the mix: films. Specifically, films I’ve seen threw the years that more likely than not, you, dear reader, have not. To begin…

Yokai Daisenso

Or in English: The Great Yokai War. This film, directed by Takashi Miike, is technically a children’s movie which, to anyone out there that knows Miike, might seem surprising. I’m sure I’ll write about a few of his other films in the future.

The Great Yokai War is a remake of an older Japanese film made in 1968 called Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare*. In both films, good yokai (Japanese spirits) band together to overcome the big, bad yokai. It’s that simple. Why do I love them both? Cause I love yokai. They’re bizarre and I promise to elaborate further in future blogs.

But, there are several reasons to love Miike’s remake apart from “Yokai are cool”. For starters, just take in to account that this IS a children’s’ film. Keep this in mind as you scroll through the following images:

Bloody mutant cow fetuses?

Melting monsters in vats of red goo?

Small children being murdered by giant Optimus Primes from Hell on their way to the bathroom?

Kill Bill/Battle Royale's Chiaki Kuriyama’s numerous panty shots?

And my personal favorite:

The message to Japanese children everywhere that if you want the ability to see all these really awesome yokai all you have to do is drink A LOT of Kirin ‘biru’.

Other great things this flick’s got? Well, loads of fun special effects which, although nothing to compare to most of the CGI-extravaganzas out right now, celebrate the typically not-so-great-looking special effects we expect from any over-the-top Japanese monster movie. And for the hippies out there, some feel-good, peace-and-love messages: “Those who discard their past have no future” and “Wars don’t bring any good. They only make you a fool.” Right on, dude…

Oh, yeah… and yokais are just freaking cool.

*Sadly, I can’t remember for the life of me what the title is in Japanese and, even sadder still, the internet has failed me as well.